Mom's Blog

A Mother's heart is a deep ocean of thoughts and reflections. As time passes the waters run ever so deep. It is my endeavor to share from my heart the lessons learned over the course of my life in raising six children in hopes to encourage and inspire Mom's of all ages but also as a record for my children as they are now raising their own children.

Even in my sunset years I am continuing to learn and develope new things as my life progresses into furthering my life's ambitions. I hope to be an inspiration to all women everywhere, to inspire you with the thoughts that you are so much more than the world would have you to think and that you can do much more than you may have thought possible. We are never too old to learn. Life is a constant learning process.

~ Debra Carmona

Christian wife, mother of six, grandmother of three, Homeschooling mother for 19 years,

Wood Building Blocks

The Foundation of Childhood Development

Wood blocks have been a favorite toy for children for centuries and one of the best toys for developing creativity in children. Wood building blocks aid development in a variety of basic skills for young children. Playtime with building blocks are fundamental to the growth of childhood development from infants to teens for both girls and boys.

Design Your Own Patchwork Quilt

Even if you have never made a quilt before you can learn how and even design your very own. I have tried to include everything you need to know in planning, designing, shopping for supplies, and sewing your quilt no matter what size you choose to make. You will find lists of the amount of fabrics and other supplies needed for all quilt sizes. I created the lists and quantities for you and also for myself as a ready tool so I don't have to refigure the quantities each time I decide to sew a quilt. I will go through the entire process from design to peicing together the patchwork, quilting, and finishing off with the binding.

For over a hundred years the Big Food Industry has been producing foods void in nutrition. Shelf life and taste has become the prominent factor in food production with little consideration for the long term effects on our health. 80% of chronic health conditions are diet related. The supplemental industry is $16 - $17 Billion dollar industry which has tried to address this huge problem. Vitamins and supplements may help some but do not offer the full spectrum of nutrients your body needs on a daily basis. Any deficiency in nutrition leads to a host of health issues over time and eventually chronic diseases. Now for the first time we have a food company that is taking on the 4.3 trillion dollar food industry with nutrient rich foods to try and reverse 100 years of processed foods which will enable people to regain their health.

Thanksgiving Tips for a Less Stressful Day

Thanksgiving preparation can be a big job especially if you have company coming. It is typically the biggest meal we Americans prepare. It can feel a bit overwhelming if you are not prepared or if this is the first time you are hosting the event in your home. If you are like me you do not cook turkeys on a regular basis so every time Thanksgiving rolls around you have to look up some of the details about thawing and baking turkeys. I have included some thawing and baking charts here to make that task easier for you and also for myself.

For most of my life I had dreamed or imagined how different my life might have been if I had known my real mother. So in my imaginations of what I thought a mother should be I formed an image of the ideal mother. After thinking she was dead for over thirty years and then now to have her walk back into my life unexpectedly was such a shocker. I questioned will she live up to my imagined expectations or will the reality be just another disappointment?

For years I thought of Mother’s Day as a depressing day. I would go to the greeting card display and browse through all the wonderful sweet sentiments of what a mother means. The lovely pictures painted in the words were so foreign to me. So many writers describe this character of Mother as having powers to healing broken hearts, mending wounds, and giving encouragement when no one else believed in them. I wondered if all that was imaginary. Does such a woman truly exist or was this just like the fairytales where everything ends with happily ever after but we know those stories are just not true.

Practical Parenting Advice

Today you have so many resources to look to for parenting advice so I wanted to offer some simple and practical parenting advice. You probably have had many parenting books recommended to you so much that you do not know where to begin. And now there is the Internet. You can Google search nearly any topic and within seconds receive a ton of resources directed to you instantly. There is so much information out there that it can become overwhelming.

When I was a young mother there were not so many books and recourses that you have today but there were enough voices to combat. The reason I say combat is because that is exactly what it is. Not all the advice you get is worthwhile. Some is written by self proclaimed experts that have not even raised children of their own. Some is written by those that received their PHD from a university so their understanding of human nature comes from a textbook with no actual working knowledge of reality. We consider them experts even though they have little actual working knowledge as in experience in raising their own children. Anyone can be a good observer of other people’s children and become a great critique but raising your own children is a completely different matter.

Learning to Live With Imperfection

Though we may strive for perfection I suspect that very few ever really achieve perfection in every aspect of their lives. Even the most meticulous planner will have to deal with blunders and mishaps from time to time. My world is not perfect either. Mishaps and blunders seem to be a normal part of life. Nearly every schedule I composed had to be altered to make it work effectively. Even when the schedule was modified there were additional things that would throw a monkey wrench into the program.